Development of Small-Scale Aquaculture Farms

Development of Small-Scale Aquaculture Farms in North Florida. The objectives are:

To improve agricultural and environmental knowledge/skills and;

To improve management systems, procedures, and/or techniques to maintain or improve water quality and best management practices. Cleaned and prepared ponds for production and operate a tank-pond re-circulating system.

The potential audience is small farmers who may have or may not have existing water bodies and are interested in small scale aquaculture (fish and fresh water prawns) production.

The activities include continual development at revitalizing the ponds at FAMU Research Center and Farm to monitoring water quality and conducting research projects with blue gills, freshwater prawns and sturgeon. Conducting workshops and hands on training for farmers on producing various fish species and fresh water prawns. Visit farmers to provide technical assistance and information on various aspects of aquaculture program to assess facilities and conduct on-site training. Prepare and submit proposals to obtain external funding for project.

The projected impact is for farmers to increase knowledge of best and alternative management practices for aquaculture production and development of small scale fish and fresh water prawn production enterprises. Also, this project serves as experiential learning for undergraduate students who will be involved in preparation of ponds, collecting and analyzing water samples, maintenance of ponds and project facility, and data entry and analysis.